Prince Charming

Andy announced that he was going to Homecoming.  This was delivered in an off-hand manner, but I knew it was a really big deal, because he has girlfriend who has joined us on two family outings, who is two grades older than he is, who went to a pre-med summer camp, and who is president of her school's honor society.  Wow.  Love that girl.  All of his other "girlfriends" have been nameless phantoms who made him miserable for a week or so.

Anyway, I tried not to over-mother while asking him if he had covered the basics:
"Oh?  When is it?"
"I dunno.  It's probably in my planner.  Next week some time, I think."
'NEXT WEEK???!!....ahem, I mean, next week?  You better find out right away.  You have a lot of stuff to get together."
"Um, yea, ok."
"You'll need a ride, you need to figure out where you're going for dinner and if you're going with other couples, you need to get her a corsage, so ask her what color her dress is..."
"Um.."
"Andy this is kind of a big deal.  You need to find out."
Meanwhile, the girlfriend herself is texting him: So homecoming?  Yes or no?  (Apparently his completely casual attitude about it all has begun to give concern.)
"Mom, it's not prom.. It's Homecoming.  Every year they have like a picnic or a barbeque or something, and then there's a football game."
"Andy I think there's a big dance.  I mean, my high school didn't have Homecoming, so I'm not sure, but I think there's a big dance.  Like, rent a tux kind of dance."
"No.  It's not like that."
A half hour or so later, he showed up swaying in my doorway.
"Mom?  It's a dance."
I could not stop laughing.  Poor kid.  At one point he actually whimpered.  Emily was texting him about boutonnieres, which he had never heard of and could not pronounce.  He was laughing too, but he was truly horrified.

My baby, all grown up.